NASCAR ; Johnson the Greatest of All? He Is in the Mix

NASCAR ; Johnson the Greatest of All? He Is in the Mix

Article excerpt

HOMESTEAD, Fla. - The congratulatory messages started rolling in
long before Jimmie Johnson had finished his obligatory championship
photos. Larry Bird. Mia Hamm. Michael Phelps. Mario Andretti. Drew
Brees. The Chicago Cubs. The list of dignitaries - and the friends
and neighbors who toilet-papered his North Carolina home overnight
shows just how significant this latest milestone is for Johnson.

Greatest of all time? Maybe. He certainly deserves to be in the
conversation.

Johnson joined Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt as the only
drivers in NASCAR to win seven titles with a race-winning run Sunday
at Homestead-Miami Speedway. His record-tying championship came in a
bizarre year for Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports team, and on a
day that did not belong to the iconic No. 48 Chevrolet until the
final lap of the race.

Hendrick Motorsports was not good this year, and never found the
speed to match Joe Gibbs Racing and its fleet of Toyotas. Johnson,
for most of the season, was never even mentioned as a title
contender.

The organization buckled down, improved its cars and got Johnson
in position to race for his seventh title.

Then he did the rest.

When Carl Edwards wrecked Sunday night to essentially lose the
championship, Johnson charged through the melee and found himself
suddenly leading the two remaining title contenders. On a night when
he'd started last his team was found to have manipulated the body
of his car after it had passed inspection and clearly wasn't as
good as the other three contenders, he had somehow lucked into the
lead.

He still had to earn the win, though, and did it with the restart
of his life to hold off Kyle Busch and Joey Logano. He led one lap
and it was the one that mattered.

"He is probably the most underrated champion in this sport, said
his crew chief, Chad Knaus. "He is a fantastic, fantastic
individual, an amazing race car driver. Most people in the situation
we were in just in would crumble. He didn't even waver. He knew what
he needed to do. He knew what the demands were on him at that point
in time, and he made it happen.